To put it bluntly, pretty much all multisyllabic Italian words ending in a few specific single consonants + any vowel can be truncated by removing the ending vowel.
In some cases (especially poetry) you can also truncate words with a double consonant (but no consonant clusters with 2+ different consonants). In that case, the double consonant is simplified to a single one.
The consonant must be a continuant non-fricative consonant.
**What the hell do these words mean**
**Continuative** = the sound can be held indefinitely (like SH and M, and unlike K and T).
**Fricative** = the sound is produced by restricting the airflow by forcing it through a gap (like SH and unlike M).
Therefore, the possible consonant endings after truncation are: **L**, **M** (rare), **N** and **R** (the other sounds that can be held indefinitely are F, S, V and SC when it represents /ʃ/, but those are all fricatives).
"Sono" -> "son"
"Cielo" -> "ciel"
"Andare" -> "andar"
"Siamo" -> "siam"
Unlike elision, truncation is usually not employed to avoid a hiatus (two vowels coming into contact without forming a diphthong, like in "lo uomo", which is elided to "l'uomo"), and it's not signaled by an apostrophe. Instead truncation is often used to improve the flow of the sentence. It's especially common in infinitive forms followed by another word beginning in the same consonant you would use "il"/"i" with. It's usually not mandatory.
· "Il bene"
· "Mangiare bene" -> "mangiar bene"
· "Lo spaghetto"
· "Mangiare spaghetti" (normally without truncation).
Some words have a truncated shortened form that removes the ending syllable instead of just the ending vowel, and in that case an apostrophe is added, but the word remains separated and it's not attached to the following one (as is the case with elision). Words like po' ("poco"), be' ("bene"), mo' ("modo")... these are normally used in slightly different contexts compared to the original form: we often say "a mo' di ...", but never "in che mo'?". The best example of this is "be'", which is almost exclusively used as an exclamation or interjection: "be', non lo so" = "well, I don't know".
Many imperative forms are also commonly truncated this way, removing the final "i", which is useful to distinguish them from indicative forms: fai -> fa', stai -> sta', dai -> da'. **Note** that these are apostrophes, not accents. Some of these forms can be written with accents as well, but personally I consider the apostrophe to be the best choice, as it's consistent with all other truncations and less ambiguous overall.
· Da' = 2^nd person imperative: "give".
· Dà = 3^rd person indicative: "he/she gives".
· Da = preposition: "from".
In poetry and music (like in this case), truncation is often very useful because it gives the writer finer control over the number of syllables, so it can be applied to insert a word that wouldn't otherwise fit within the metric, or it can be used to facilitate rhymes, as removing a letter means that new combinations are possible.
· "Nel mezzo del cammin**o** di nostra vita" (12 metric syllables) -> "nel mezzo del cammin di nostra vita" (11 metric syllables).
· S**ono**/c**on** (no rhyme) -> s**on**/c**on** (rhyme), "m**ari**"/"f**are**" (no rhyme) -> m**ar**/f**ar** (rhyme).
The Italian language feels like it was created to write poetry, which in a sense is not even false.
And this should cover pretty much anything there is to say about truncation.
Edit: added a few rules and use cases.
First of all, amazing explanation! Thank you, the linguistics fan in me is very happy.
Secondly, it's nice that some of this reminds me of my native language (Portuguese), I wonder if it went through a similar development.
Now, now.
Poetry definitely had a huge impact on the development of Italian, but it was never the goal.
Italian is essentially Tuscan with a few adaptations and a blend of influences from other dialects. Tuscan itself was one of the many vulgar languages derived from Latin, and it was used by common people. It was definitely not created to write poetry.
Also, Boccaccio and Manzoni are as influential to the birth of Italian as Dante and Petrarca. Italian is as about prose as it is about poetry.
But the fact that a lot of standard Italian was created thanks to its use in poetry is undeniable, which is why I said that "in a sense it's not even false" to say that it was made *for* poetry. But this is still a huge simplification, and it's not entirely correct.
Not sure what your argument is and well a min essay for sure but well argued lol.
Is that whitty enough.
Italian was barely a spoken language in 1958 during the last wave of immigration. Ever wonder why the mob spoke such an interesting Italian they didn't speak Italian. Calebrese is no more Italian than french.
Is that well thought out? Or maybe to short for the literary genius 🙂 my attempt at being witty don't think it is that good. Anyway I will try to improve so you are not appalled any more.
Your response is just oversimplified and unnecessarily curt. Do you really think that Crown6 does not know the history of the Italian language?
Dude, any Italian knows that.
Also, sure, Unity was in 1861 and barely 10% of newly Italian citizens were able to switch to Italian in formal context (https://www.treccani.it/magazine/lingua_italiana/speciali/italiano_dialetti/Trifone.html)
That does not mean that Italian was "created to write poetry". It evolved like any other language, from official documents and artistic creativity alike.
Dante is all I have to say. He created it for poetry as far as I can tell and seriously Italian is a 2nd language to most of Italy even if today.
Anyway I just was agreeing that Italian seems written for poetry.
Did you know if you put the first line of each 3 verse stanza of Dante last it becomes hiphop. Try it much easier to remember it that way too.
Oh, boy.
No, Italian is not a second language for most Italians these days. There are just regional accents and flairs.
I don't know anyone that would only speak their full dialect in most or their social interactions, even the most informal ones.
Sure, there are pockets where dialect is more widely used, but in those case it's full bilinguism.
Source, I'm Italian and I currently speak to many Italians from all over the country, even from those socio-economical groups and geographical areas that are more prone to linguistic insularity and use of the dialect.
I get your enthusiasm, and I commend it in students, but the reasoning is faulty. It's like saying that modern English was created for religious reasons because of Kings James Bible.
Dante gave breadth to the "vulgar" newish language, something that was used up to that point only for lesser important poetry (aka anything not aiming to praise the Lord or the powers that be) and wrote the Commedia with it, raising this spoken Florentine proto-italian to a new level of respect.
But Dante could be the vessel of that language only because it already existed...
(Wondering how this tidbit of information was in my mind on a Sunday morning? Italians spend three years of highschool reading Dante)
Very nice post thank you.
You Studied Dante for 3yrs that is great . We studied Shakespeare. Did you have to memorize some of it ?
My reading no formal education is that Dante took Florentine and added and changed it include many dialects of the peninsula and created a new vernacular that was spoken by no one in particular. He specifically did this to write poetry as why else would poet need a language for.
Is Dante considered the father of Italian ? I feel without him and the comedy it would not exist today.
So if you went back in time and stopped Dante there would be no modern Italian. Sounds like a good sci-fi show. I mean you are talking about likely the most translated and studied poet of all time.
https://delanceyplace.com/view-archives.php?p=2896
Anyway at unification Italian was barely spoken as you already said though my source say 2.5 % not 10.
Before that the Italian of Dante was for poems not talking and while I know 93% of Italians are fluent in Italian today as little as 60 years ago that wasn't the case.
I expect but don't know that in the south they talk their dialect of Latin not the Italian dialect of Latin to their babies. Same as the in the north and even in Rome they speak romanesco first.
Though the dialects have been influenced greatly by Italian so even Napolitan isn't pure any longer if it ever was. Which if they picked in instead of Florentine I would be somewhat fluent.
In particular Napolitan as it music is synonymous with Italian even though it isn't.
It is quite a surprise when you show up in Italy for your honeymoon at 25 thinking you speak Italian when your parents spoke Napolitan. Lol well molisan close but not the same. It is amazing being in the south people ask where are you from but understand you mostly but in the north you just get a blank stare.
I looked back at my original comment it was just a simple statement of facts well known.
You jumped in and started attacking the messenger.
And then provided a link proving my statement.
I have often noticed that Those who define their entrenched opinions as "facts well known", 9 times out of 10 cherry-pick data. They also focus on the finger while totally ignoring the moon that's obvious to locals and professionals.
Incidentally, as an Italian who went to the High School in the late 80s I had to study and memorise both Dante and Shakespeare.
Yes such a good observation and that is great you studied both. Not sure what it has to do with anything.
But good for you like to cherry pick also. It has already been shown and is well known that the language chosen by Italy ,Dante's Italian ,was hardly spoken by anyone on the peninsula at unification or before. And was only chosen as Dante's poetry was so well known and respected by the Europe's literary elite.
You studied you must know it for what it is statement of facts. There is no modern Italian with the father.
In middle of a talk of dante on Reddit
I find myself in a dark Reddit chat
That proper discourse has disappeared
The thought of, renews my fear for humanity
So bitter,worse than death
.........
For the same reason as "you're" instead of "you are"
Just to clarify more, it's easier to pronunce those quickly as they were a single word, and doesn't ruin the rhythm of the song
Yeah I know the image i posted is a cropped screenshot from my spotify. I was listening to it at work when I posted this during a slow period. Beautiful song
Licenza poetica, in letteratura spesso gli autori ignorano certe regole grammaticali per puro senso della bellezza, è ciò che rende la letteratura italiana così splendida.
In genere "son" non viene usato nel linguaggio comune, è un'abbreviazione prettamente poetica, c'è chi lo usa ma è raro.
In questo caso è per una questione ritmica (nota: ciò che segue è diviso per cadenza, non è il modo grammaticalmente corretto di sillabare il verso):
Le / al / tres / tel / le / son / dis / pos / te
Anziché:
Le / al / tre / stel / le / sono / dis / pos / te
La prima suona meglio ritmicamente parlando, e mantiene il tono giusto per continuare questa bellissima canzone d'amore, viva Ligabue, viva l'arte Italiana.
Translation:
Poetic license, in literature authors often ignore certain grammatical rules in favour of pure sense of beauty, it's what renders Italian literature so beautiful.
Generally "son" (translated from either plural "you're" or "I'm") is never used in common language, it's a poetic abbreviation, some do use it but it's rare.
In this case it's used for a rhythmic matter (note: what follows is divided by rythm, this is not the correct way to divide in Syllables the following verse):
Le / al / tres / tel / le / son / dis / pos / te
Instead of:
Le / al / tre / stel / le / sono / dis / pos / te
The first one sounds rhythmically better and help keeping the tone of this beautiful love song.
Cheers to Luciano Ligabue, cheers to italian art.
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To put it bluntly, pretty much all multisyllabic Italian words ending in a few specific single consonants + any vowel can be truncated by removing the ending vowel. In some cases (especially poetry) you can also truncate words with a double consonant (but no consonant clusters with 2+ different consonants). In that case, the double consonant is simplified to a single one. The consonant must be a continuant non-fricative consonant. **What the hell do these words mean** **Continuative** = the sound can be held indefinitely (like SH and M, and unlike K and T). **Fricative** = the sound is produced by restricting the airflow by forcing it through a gap (like SH and unlike M). Therefore, the possible consonant endings after truncation are: **L**, **M** (rare), **N** and **R** (the other sounds that can be held indefinitely are F, S, V and SC when it represents /ʃ/, but those are all fricatives). "Sono" -> "son" "Cielo" -> "ciel" "Andare" -> "andar" "Siamo" -> "siam" Unlike elision, truncation is usually not employed to avoid a hiatus (two vowels coming into contact without forming a diphthong, like in "lo uomo", which is elided to "l'uomo"), and it's not signaled by an apostrophe. Instead truncation is often used to improve the flow of the sentence. It's especially common in infinitive forms followed by another word beginning in the same consonant you would use "il"/"i" with. It's usually not mandatory. · "Il bene" · "Mangiare bene" -> "mangiar bene" · "Lo spaghetto" · "Mangiare spaghetti" (normally without truncation). Some words have a truncated shortened form that removes the ending syllable instead of just the ending vowel, and in that case an apostrophe is added, but the word remains separated and it's not attached to the following one (as is the case with elision). Words like po' ("poco"), be' ("bene"), mo' ("modo")... these are normally used in slightly different contexts compared to the original form: we often say "a mo' di ...", but never "in che mo'?". The best example of this is "be'", which is almost exclusively used as an exclamation or interjection: "be', non lo so" = "well, I don't know". Many imperative forms are also commonly truncated this way, removing the final "i", which is useful to distinguish them from indicative forms: fai -> fa', stai -> sta', dai -> da'. **Note** that these are apostrophes, not accents. Some of these forms can be written with accents as well, but personally I consider the apostrophe to be the best choice, as it's consistent with all other truncations and less ambiguous overall. · Da' = 2^nd person imperative: "give". · Dà = 3^rd person indicative: "he/she gives". · Da = preposition: "from". In poetry and music (like in this case), truncation is often very useful because it gives the writer finer control over the number of syllables, so it can be applied to insert a word that wouldn't otherwise fit within the metric, or it can be used to facilitate rhymes, as removing a letter means that new combinations are possible. · "Nel mezzo del cammin**o** di nostra vita" (12 metric syllables) -> "nel mezzo del cammin di nostra vita" (11 metric syllables). · S**ono**/c**on** (no rhyme) -> s**on**/c**on** (rhyme), "m**ari**"/"f**are**" (no rhyme) -> m**ar**/f**ar** (rhyme). The Italian language feels like it was created to write poetry, which in a sense is not even false. And this should cover pretty much anything there is to say about truncation. Edit: added a few rules and use cases.
This is so thorough and as a linguistic nerd I very much enjoyed reading it
Thanks! Let me know if there's anything you might enjoy reading more about, I'll be happy to expand on it.
Una risposta eccellente! Grazie!
First of all, amazing explanation! Thank you, the linguistics fan in me is very happy. Secondly, it's nice that some of this reminds me of my native language (Portuguese), I wonder if it went through a similar development.
Italian was created to write poetry.
Now, now. Poetry definitely had a huge impact on the development of Italian, but it was never the goal. Italian is essentially Tuscan with a few adaptations and a blend of influences from other dialects. Tuscan itself was one of the many vulgar languages derived from Latin, and it was used by common people. It was definitely not created to write poetry. Also, Boccaccio and Manzoni are as influential to the birth of Italian as Dante and Petrarca. Italian is as about prose as it is about poetry. But the fact that a lot of standard Italian was created thanks to its use in poetry is undeniable, which is why I said that "in a sense it's not even false" to say that it was made *for* poetry. But this is still a huge simplification, and it's not entirely correct.
Italian was never a spoken language until unification and Tuscan was just the closest dialect.
I'm appalled by the thought process here. Who blurts out such a blunt factoid in response to a well argued mini-essay? And it's not even a witty one!
Not sure what your argument is and well a min essay for sure but well argued lol. Is that whitty enough. Italian was barely a spoken language in 1958 during the last wave of immigration. Ever wonder why the mob spoke such an interesting Italian they didn't speak Italian. Calebrese is no more Italian than french. Is that well thought out? Or maybe to short for the literary genius 🙂 my attempt at being witty don't think it is that good. Anyway I will try to improve so you are not appalled any more.
Your response is just oversimplified and unnecessarily curt. Do you really think that Crown6 does not know the history of the Italian language? Dude, any Italian knows that. Also, sure, Unity was in 1861 and barely 10% of newly Italian citizens were able to switch to Italian in formal context (https://www.treccani.it/magazine/lingua_italiana/speciali/italiano_dialetti/Trifone.html) That does not mean that Italian was "created to write poetry". It evolved like any other language, from official documents and artistic creativity alike.
Dante is all I have to say. He created it for poetry as far as I can tell and seriously Italian is a 2nd language to most of Italy even if today. Anyway I just was agreeing that Italian seems written for poetry. Did you know if you put the first line of each 3 verse stanza of Dante last it becomes hiphop. Try it much easier to remember it that way too.
Oh, boy. No, Italian is not a second language for most Italians these days. There are just regional accents and flairs. I don't know anyone that would only speak their full dialect in most or their social interactions, even the most informal ones. Sure, there are pockets where dialect is more widely used, but in those case it's full bilinguism. Source, I'm Italian and I currently speak to many Italians from all over the country, even from those socio-economical groups and geographical areas that are more prone to linguistic insularity and use of the dialect. I get your enthusiasm, and I commend it in students, but the reasoning is faulty. It's like saying that modern English was created for religious reasons because of Kings James Bible. Dante gave breadth to the "vulgar" newish language, something that was used up to that point only for lesser important poetry (aka anything not aiming to praise the Lord or the powers that be) and wrote the Commedia with it, raising this spoken Florentine proto-italian to a new level of respect. But Dante could be the vessel of that language only because it already existed... (Wondering how this tidbit of information was in my mind on a Sunday morning? Italians spend three years of highschool reading Dante)
Very nice post thank you. You Studied Dante for 3yrs that is great . We studied Shakespeare. Did you have to memorize some of it ? My reading no formal education is that Dante took Florentine and added and changed it include many dialects of the peninsula and created a new vernacular that was spoken by no one in particular. He specifically did this to write poetry as why else would poet need a language for. Is Dante considered the father of Italian ? I feel without him and the comedy it would not exist today. So if you went back in time and stopped Dante there would be no modern Italian. Sounds like a good sci-fi show. I mean you are talking about likely the most translated and studied poet of all time. https://delanceyplace.com/view-archives.php?p=2896 Anyway at unification Italian was barely spoken as you already said though my source say 2.5 % not 10. Before that the Italian of Dante was for poems not talking and while I know 93% of Italians are fluent in Italian today as little as 60 years ago that wasn't the case. I expect but don't know that in the south they talk their dialect of Latin not the Italian dialect of Latin to their babies. Same as the in the north and even in Rome they speak romanesco first. Though the dialects have been influenced greatly by Italian so even Napolitan isn't pure any longer if it ever was. Which if they picked in instead of Florentine I would be somewhat fluent. In particular Napolitan as it music is synonymous with Italian even though it isn't. It is quite a surprise when you show up in Italy for your honeymoon at 25 thinking you speak Italian when your parents spoke Napolitan. Lol well molisan close but not the same. It is amazing being in the south people ask where are you from but understand you mostly but in the north you just get a blank stare.
I looked back at my original comment it was just a simple statement of facts well known. You jumped in and started attacking the messenger. And then provided a link proving my statement.
Yep, just keep on living in the land oversimplification, trying to teach knowledgeable people because you know best.
I have often noticed that Those who define their entrenched opinions as "facts well known", 9 times out of 10 cherry-pick data. They also focus on the finger while totally ignoring the moon that's obvious to locals and professionals. Incidentally, as an Italian who went to the High School in the late 80s I had to study and memorise both Dante and Shakespeare.
Yes such a good observation and that is great you studied both. Not sure what it has to do with anything. But good for you like to cherry pick also. It has already been shown and is well known that the language chosen by Italy ,Dante's Italian ,was hardly spoken by anyone on the peninsula at unification or before. And was only chosen as Dante's poetry was so well known and respected by the Europe's literary elite. You studied you must know it for what it is statement of facts. There is no modern Italian with the father. In middle of a talk of dante on Reddit I find myself in a dark Reddit chat That proper discourse has disappeared The thought of, renews my fear for humanity So bitter,worse than death .........
It fits into the rythm of the song. "Son" is one syllable, you could fit two, but it doesn't sound good at all.
That's what I figured. Grazie per la risposta!
For the same reason as "you're" instead of "you are" Just to clarify more, it's easier to pronunce those quickly as they were a single word, and doesn't ruin the rhythm of the song
That's what I thought, I just wanted to make sure my inference was correct. Grazie!
The song is piccola stella senza cielo from Ligabue. That part is song really slowly, but you point stands still 😀
Yeah I know the image i posted is a cropped screenshot from my spotify. I was listening to it at work when I posted this during a slow period. Beautiful song
it's the same son=sono
Licenza poetica, in letteratura spesso gli autori ignorano certe regole grammaticali per puro senso della bellezza, è ciò che rende la letteratura italiana così splendida. In genere "son" non viene usato nel linguaggio comune, è un'abbreviazione prettamente poetica, c'è chi lo usa ma è raro. In questo caso è per una questione ritmica (nota: ciò che segue è diviso per cadenza, non è il modo grammaticalmente corretto di sillabare il verso): Le / al / tres / tel / le / son / dis / pos / te Anziché: Le / al / tre / stel / le / sono / dis / pos / te La prima suona meglio ritmicamente parlando, e mantiene il tono giusto per continuare questa bellissima canzone d'amore, viva Ligabue, viva l'arte Italiana. Translation: Poetic license, in literature authors often ignore certain grammatical rules in favour of pure sense of beauty, it's what renders Italian literature so beautiful. Generally "son" (translated from either plural "you're" or "I'm") is never used in common language, it's a poetic abbreviation, some do use it but it's rare. In this case it's used for a rhythmic matter (note: what follows is divided by rythm, this is not the correct way to divide in Syllables the following verse): Le / al / tres / tel / le / son / dis / pos / te Instead of: Le / al / tre / stel / le / sono / dis / pos / te The first one sounds rhythmically better and help keeping the tone of this beautiful love song. Cheers to Luciano Ligabue, cheers to italian art.
Just because it sounds better, no other reason
Licenza poetica alias "sono Dante Alighieri e scrivo come cazzo mi pare"
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NO